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By Joe Buscaglia

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More talk that Bills are trying to trade up

by Joe Buscaglia,posted Apr 29 2014 12:51PM

Nine more days until the 2014 NFL Draft, and the rumors just continue to pile up. One persistent rumor throughout the past month or so has linked the Buffalo Bills with attempting to move up in the order from ninth overall.

In his latest mock draft ESPN’s Todd McShay didn’t have the Bills moving up per say, but did offer up an interesting first line of the explanation in his selection for Buffalo.

“I've heard from three league sources in the past week that the Bills are trying to trade up. If they do make a move, it'll likely be to land Clowney, Robinson or Watkins.” - Todd McShay, ESPN.com

The Bills have been talking a big game in that respect, and have been linked to perhaps even trading all the way up to the top pick in an effort to get Jadeveon Clowney. Doug Whaley defined what “mortgaging the future” in the form of dealing draft picks to move up meant to him.

“We give up our whole draft? You’re mortgaging our future. If we give up a second round or a pick next year, again it’s a calculated decision. I would say it all depends on the deal,” Whaley said. “It’s got to be a right deal and it has to be a calculated deal that is beneficial to us and the other team.”

Would Whaley and the Bills actually go all the way up to the first or second overall pick to draft either South Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney or Auburn offensive tackle Greg Robinson? Speaking with people around the league regarding the Bills pick, it doesn’t sound like there is much to that. While the Bills would be getting a very good player, the type of cost to move from ninth to first is quite a lot.

The other name that McShay brings up as a potential trade-up target is interesting. Clemson’s Sammy Watkins is someone that the Bills seem to be enamored by, according to a league source. Based on that conversation, it wouldn’t be shocking at all for the Bills to move up to select Watkins if he gets past either Jacksonville (3) or Cleveland (4).

Since he wasn’t able to project trades in this version of his mock draft, McShay gave the Bills Taylor Lewan, the offensive tackle out of Michigan.